Daisy was born unable to produce the major allergen in whey, but also born four weeks prematurely, and, to the surprise of researchers, without a tail.
"We do have evidence that suggests that the lacking tail is due to an epigenetic defect (that affects gene expression rather than the genes themselves), and we believe it is not related to the genetic modification of the calf, but this must be backed up by more results," Wagner said.
The whey-reduced milk still contained other allergenic proteins and even increased casein, the main protein that coagulates to form cheese.
However, getting cows to produce hypoallergenic milk may be far-fetched, according to some researchers.
"While it's an interesting idea, that's not going to eliminate the allergies," said Hugh Sampson, an immunologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, who was not involved in the current study.
Because federal law says transgenic milk can't be consumed, the researchers aren't sure what it tastes like yet.
Jabed hopes that isn't the case in the future.
"When I started this project in 2007, it was my dream to see a hypoallergenic cow, I wish in the future we can produce (hypoallergenic) milk and market it and see it in store shelves," he said.
The journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science published the research.
- 5 Wacky Things That Are Good for Your Health
- Yum! 10 New Ways to Eat Well
- Ready for Med School? Test Your Body Smarts
Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
See what we're tweeting about
6 Comments
Add CommentCreepy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMany people brush off concerns about GMO foods as nothing more than the irrational fear of those with little understanding of biology, and this may be a fair assessment some of the time, because there are probably a number of GMO foods that are perfectly safe. Every time any organism produces offspring--whether animal or plant--some natural tinkering with genes takes place. Segments of DNA are moved around and mutations take place, adding entirely new genes into the world. So if it's safe to eat organism's who've undergone this natural genetic change, what's wrong with human beings engineering genetic changes as well?
It's a complicated issue that will be debated fiercely for years to come, but I've been steadily moving towards the anti-GMO-foods position over time. Look at one of the most important foods in the world: wheat. It was genetically modified around the 1950's to increase yield during farming per unit of area. But as a side effect of this transformation, a new protein called gliadin appeared and it turns out that gliadin is an opiate...like heroin. So now wheat is addictive, and a growing body of research has emerged, implicating gliadin's tendency to trigger over-eating as a big contributor to many of the world's (especially America's) health problems.
The research that's led to this new type of milk product is interesting and worth conducting in my opinion, but I don't think we should be so quick to turn to genetic engineering to solve our problems with food. Let's play it safe. There has got to be a better way.
Why don't they just grow a teat in the lab? Why bother using a whole animal? That's wasteful.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Apocalypse is associated with the destruction of ruminants. The result of genetic contamination . Perhaps someone found a cure for the human race. The " poison "is also associated with a solar storm. At the moment, I don't see a poison caused by the solar storm. A solar storm would knock out the food supply. A decision to wipe out the human race may have followed,.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am sure they are just kidding.
We are the only mammalian species on this planet that tends to deprive their offspring of their rightful, species-specific milk formula (though we would shudder if we saw someone holding a human baby under a cow's udder, forcing it to suck from it! That would be possibly classified under "child abuse" to use/ or abuse the cow as a wet nurse! )
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd now this 'Frankenstein' cow that they've synthesized do do away with the whey! It makes me wonder what else may be missing, apart from the tail...
Youthevity.com
To Kloumann: Thank you for this interesting history of wheat, with the added addictiveness of an opiate!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, it is getting more and more clear that , with all processed food, there is much more concentration of certain ingredients, which act like opiates on our unsuspecting brains; sugar, as a distillled 99% isolate from canes or beets, is another prime example.
With wheat, sugar, and fat caked together in the shape of 'cakes', the synergy of opiates working in tandem works wonders for pandemic addiction levels; all for the greater benefit of the national growth product! Growth in weight & health problems included.
Youthevity.com
Humans are the ONLY species on the planet that continues to drink milk after weaning. Doesn't anybody else have a problem with that. And genetically engineered milk! Wow. Really. Hope the powers that be are prepared for the damage to the human genome that this will inevitably lead to. Check out the 12 year old girls with adult cleavage and 12 year old boys that have already been shaving for a year. Not very smart. Not very smart at all.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this